Chapter 62
My body froze at Choi Kyung-won’s words.
“What happened to Joo Kwon-oh? What’s going on?”
“Huh? You didn’t know?”
Choi Kyung-won asked back with a puzzled expression.
Joo Kwon-oh being in the hospital was news to me. I hadn’t contacted him today, but we had talked normally just yesterday. Could something have happened overnight?
“…I-I didn’t know?”
“Then why are you here? I thought that guy had contacted you too and asked you to bring something…”
“How badly is he hurt? Ah, are you going to the hospital now? Which hospital?”
Upon hearing that Joo Kwon-oh was injured, I grabbed Choi Kyung-won and fired off questions.
Taken aback by my unexpected behavior, Choi Kyung-won hesitated for a moment, choosing his words. He seemed not to understand why I was reacting this way.
But I had no time to care about his gaze. The moment I heard he was injured and in the hospital, I felt like all the blood in my body was draining to my feet.
With my hands and feet feeling cold, my heart pounded anxiously.
“Hey, hey, calm down. It’s not like he’s seriously ill or anything.”
“Then…”
“He was helping out at his dad’s furniture factory during the break and hurt his arm a bit.”
“His arm…? How badly?”
He didn’t tell me anything about this. Did the accident happen today?
Moreover, if he’s asking to bring stuff to the hospital, doesn’t that mean he’ll be admitted for at least a day?
“I don’t know the details either. He suddenly contacted me on Instagram last night. And he managed to break his phone in the meantime. He should’ve been more careful, tsk tsk.”
Since it happened at the factory, the injury might be serious. My heart was racing so much that I was short of breath.
I took a few deep breaths and said to Choi Kyung-won:
“The hospital is in Yongin, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. How did you know?”
“Can I go with you when you go to the hospital?”
“You… want to? If you’re okay with it. But were you that close with Kwon-oh…?”
Choi Kyung-won tilted his head in confusion. Even to me, we appeared to be distant acquaintances who just exchanged greetings when we met. Before Choi Kyung-won could raise any more questions about this, I nodded vigorously.
“Yeah. We took an elective class together. And… we did group projects. We drank together too. That’s why I came to Kwon-oh’s place today.”
“That’s true. Ah, right. Now that I think about it, you even know where Kwon-oh’s place is.”
Choi Kyung-won seemed to accept it quickly. Fortunately, I seemed to have barely passed his shallow friendship test.
“So I want to go together.”
*
The taxi Choi Kyung-won and I took arrived in front of a hospital in Yongin. Choi Kyung-won tried to reassure me that it probably wasn’t that serious, but I wouldn’t know for sure until I saw it with my own eyes.
In fact, it seemed that even Choi Kyung-won had only heard about the injury through DMs and hadn’t seen exactly what condition Joo Kwon-oh was in.
As soon as we got out of the taxi, we entered the hospital with a sign that read ‘Correct Orthopedics’.
While Choi Kyung-won was asking a nurse about the room location, saying we were here for a visit, I looked around the hospital interior.
It was a small, old hospital. Most of the people at reception were elderly. Given its size, there probably weren’t many inpatient rooms. If it was a serious injury, wouldn’t he have gone to a bigger hospital or come to Seoul?
So is it fortunate that it’s not a severe injury…?
While feeling somewhat relieved, I was still troubled by the thoughts I had during the taxi ride.
If he could log into his Instagram account using his brother’s phone, why did Joo Kwon-oh only contact Choi Kyung-won and not me? Couldn’t he at least have told me he was injured?
Was his claim about being busy and needing to stay a few more days also because of the injury?
“Jeong-ha. Joo Kwon-oh is on the third floor. Let’s just take the stairs.”
“Ah, okay.”
“That bastard had to break his phone at a time like this, so we can’t even call properly. We’ve come all this way but can’t even ask where he is, geez. How inconvenient.”
I followed the grumbling Choi Kyung-won up to the third floor of the hospital.
It’s probably nothing serious, right? Unconsciously feeling anxious, my steps kept getting faster.
As we reached the third floor, we could hear cursing and irritated voices echoing down the corridor from afar.
“Shit, he came to the office? What workers’ compensation for a bastard who drove a forklift while drunk? Tell him to stop this nonsense.”
My steps toward the room halted at Joo Kwon-oh’s curse-filled shout.
“From what that person said, it seems that legally, compensation must be provided even in cases like this…”
“Hyung, stop saying such frustrating things. If that bastard hadn’t been drinking in the first place, my arm wouldn’t be in this state. And drinking on site is illegal in itself.”
“I know, but he’s causing a fuss saying he’ll report it.”
“Let him do it, damn it. I’m already pissed off that I can’t go back to Seoul because of this, and that bastard…”
Joo Kwon-oh was furious about the accident at the factory. I felt a bit scared by his raw voice spewing brutal curses. It didn’t seem like the Joo Kwon-oh I knew.
As my steps slowed, Choi Kyung-won took the lead and entered the room.
“Excuse me? Knock knock.”
The door was already open, but since Joo Kwon-oh and his brother were in conversation, Choi Kyung-won knocked. The conversation paused briefly, and both of them turned their attention to Choi Kyung-won.
“Oh, you’re here?”
“Yeah. I brought what you asked for. How’s your arm?”
“How is it? Bones will heal with time even if they’re broken.”
Shocked by Joo Kwon-oh’s nonchalant reply, I immediately sprang forward.
“B-bone? You said the bone is broken?”
His right arm, clad in a hospital gown, was indeed in a cast. I had expected a strained ligament at most, but a fracture?
“What? Ryu Jeong-ha?”
Joo Kwon-oh, who had just noticed me behind Choi Kyung-won, called my name and approached. His face was full of bewilderment.
“Who’s that? A school friend?”
Joo Kwon-oh’s brother, whom I had seen in photos before, turned his gaze to me. However, Joo Kwon-oh didn’t answer and instead looked back and forth between Choi Kyung-won and me before speaking again.
“Why is Jeong-ha here? Choi Kyung-won, did you bring him?”
“Yeah. He said he wanted to come, so I brought him.”
“No, shit… Why did you bring him all the way here for no reason!”
“…What do you mean no reason? Why are you deciding that, Kwon-oh…?”
My heart sank at the words “for no reason.” Joo Kwon-oh flinched as my expression visibly hardened, and he closed his mouth.
He clearly looked displeased that I had come here, anyone could see that.
Though he didn’t express it verbally, he was glaring at Choi Kyung-won as if he might unleash harsh curses at any moment.
“What, what? Was I not supposed to bring Jeong-ha?”
Realizing the atmosphere was strange, Choi Kyung-won stared somewhat blankly at Joo Kwon-oh while putting down the luggage he had brought from the apartment on the bed.
Joo Kwon-oh messed up his hair with his uninjured hand, muttering, “Ah, shit. This is driving me crazy.”
Because he was much taller and bigger than average, the eyes of other patients and guardians in the room instantly turned to him.
“Let’s go outside for now. I’ll explain.”
Before his brother and Choi Kyung-won could ask for details, Joo Kwon-oh grabbed my arm and led me out of the room.
“Joo Kwon-oh. Where are you going?”
“Hyung, I’m going to talk with my friend for a bit, so wait. If that bastard calls ranting about workers’ compensation or whatever, call me.”
As I was being dragged along by Joo Kwon-oh, I silently observed his arm in the cast.
Although I couldn’t see well from behind, fortunately, he didn’t seem to be in pain when using his shoulder muscles or walking.
Joo Kwon-oh took me to a small terrace at the end of the hospital corridor. When he opened the door, the smell of cigarettes wafted in along with the outside air.
“Mister. Don’t you see the no-smoking sign?”
Joo Kwon-oh spoke confrontationally to a middle-aged man smoking right in front of a wall with a no-smoking sign.
“What? Where does a young punk…”
“Young punk?”
The man suddenly closed his mouth after seeing Joo Kwon-oh’s face. After seeming lost in thought for a few seconds, he quietly put out his cigarette and left, intimidated by Joo Kwon-oh’s menacing expression and large build.
Having so easily driven away the man, Joo Kwon-oh finally turned towards me as we were left alone.
In the meantime, I had accumulated many questions to ask Joo Kwon-oh.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt? A-are you badly injured? How did you break your arm…? Hm?”
“No, it’s not serious. Look, I just need to be careful with my arm, everything else is fine.”
Joo Kwon-oh spoke as if it was no big deal, moving his shoulder up and down on the side with the cast. Startled by his careless movement, I grabbed his shoulder to stop him.
“Stop moving that arm. And answer my question quickly… Why didn’t you tell me? Do you know how shocked I was when I heard from Kyung-won earlier?”
“Haa. That loose-lipped bastard Choi Kyung-won.”
“……”
“Sorry, sorry. I’ll explain. …First of all, I’m not as badly hurt as you think, and there’s nothing but factories around here, so it felt awkward to call you.”
That excuse sounded too weak to me. Couldn’t he at least have told me?
The fact that he had firmly refused when I said I wanted to go to Yongin yesterday was ultimately to hide that he was injured. Thinking about it that way, I even felt a faint sense of betrayal.
“Still… you should have told me. How could you just say you’d stay a few more days and come back?”
“Even though it’s a fracture, it’s not severe, just a crack, so they say I just need to be careful for about a week.”
“When and how did you get hurt…?”
“The day before yesterday, a guy driving a forklift was drunk and dropped some lumber towards me. I dodged, but unfortunately, a few pieces hit my arm. My phone broke then too.”
“……”
“It didn’t even hurt much, but my dad and brother made a fuss about going to the hospital, and when I came, they said I needed a cast.”
Joo Kwon-oh shrugged and spoke casually. Not knowing how worried I had been.
Even after hearing the explanation, I felt more suffocated rather than relieved.
“It’s not a big deal, right?”
Even though he must have seen that my hardened expression hadn’t softened at all, he dusted off his hospital gown and grinned.
Joo Kwon-oh, who was usually incredibly perceptive, must have known how I was feeling, yet he said this next:
“Now that you’ve checked, go back to Seoul.”
